Comments on: Timing the recovery. When to invest in staff and marketing

By: Julie Hamilton

Julie Hamilton — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 23:15:23 +0000

I respect what you are saying Greg but from a rec to recs perspective, many businesses have already reacted too late for the early upswing. I started advising my clients to hire in October last year. For many of them it meant carrying consultants through the Christmas period, but now they have fully productive recruiters in their businesses. Those that elected to wait for stronger signs of recovery are now finding themselves in a war for experienced recruiters that far outweighs what we saw at the height of the boom. Many people left the industry and with virtually no investment in training and development over the past 18 months, there is a chronic shortage of qualified, energetic and driven recruiters. Additionally, the point of difference between agencies is minute so good people are making career decisions based on whether they like the people they will be working with. The industry has to invest in sourcing new people because there just aren’t enough bodies to go around.

By: Oliver Urpi

Oliver Urpi — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 14:00:56 +0000

Good post Greg.

From my experience Recruitment Companies have started to step up their recruitment efforts over the past month. I do however think that many of the problems with the perception of recruiters being poor at getting back to candidates and general customer service complaints is a direct result of poor hiring choices. I know of a number of consultants who are not cut out for recruitment but are still hired by recruitment companies who simply seem to want to increase their numbers without any real regard for quality.

By: AKZ

AKZ — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 01:54:30 +0000

Great article!

The other thing to ask yourself is – “Do you need a biller or just a body?”

People who disappeared during 2009 are now reappearing across all sales and service roles. Why did they leave the industry during the downturn? Was it due to companies downsizing or was it due to the fact that they just could not keep up with billing and sales targets during a challenging time? Ask the question and do not take the response at face value.

Once you have figured out the reasons for their disappearance and before you get caught up in the wave of optimism and increased activity ask yourself:
Do I need a biller and someone with the ability to generate business?
Do I need a relationship manager to run warm/hot accounts?

Get this wrong and you could be paying the price before the year is out!